First Impressions
by RamblesAndThoughts
Summary: Summary: As far as first meetings go, theirs couldn't have gone any worse - Set in the third year of Teikou and ignoring the GoMs fallout. Prompt 03: AU Tutor fic


Her magenta eyes glanced over at the various books and assignments spread out in front of her. After triple-checking that she has everything, Satsuki drummed her fingers on the wooden desk impatiently.

The clock ticked rhythmically behind her. Its beats echoed in the empty classroom – grating on her already frayed nerves as she exhaled a tired sigh. Her shoulders drooped in exhaustion.

The guy was almost half an hour late now.

Weak light rays streamed into the classroom. Outside, the sun had already started to set as the remaining few students trickled out of the school building. The pink-haired girl caught their faint goodbyes.

With a half-annoyed and a half-envying expression on her face, she watched as they started to leave the school grounds. Her irritations flared when she realized that she could have been leaving right now as well – maybe even slightly before them since club activities had ended around thirty minutes ago – and that she could have been nearly half-way home by now. But instead, she remained trapped inside this God-forsaken building; her student nowhere in sight.

Her foul mood spiked.

As far as first impression went, he certainly wasn't making a good one for himself.

Satsuki could have guaranteed that, had the Chairman not personally requested for her to tutor this student, she would have left around ten minutes ago. From reading the student's progress report, she hadn't understood what all the fuss was about. With the exception of how atrocious all of the grades were, there was nothing remarkable about the individual – from what she could gather – that could garner such attention from the administrators.

If anything, it was amazing that he had even managed to make it to his third year with such awful grades.

Bored, she dug through the papers in search of the progress report.

Despite having already read over the contents, Satsuki couldn't help the slight downward curl of her lips as she scrutinized the numbers.

A thirty in Mathematics.

A twenty-five in English.

A twenty-two in Japanese.

Her grip on the flimsy paper tightened with each additional grade she saw.

At this rate, she doubted that even a month's worth of time was enough. After seeing his pathetic grades and thinking about the heavy workload in store for both of them, Satsuki scoffed. Her patience wore thin as she wondered, once again, _where the hell was the guy?!_ He was practically on the chopping block for everything and, yet, he still has the _nerve_ to skip out on this session?

_Why that little… If I ever cross paths with him —_

Her dark thoughts were interrupted when her eyes reached the bottom of the page.

Seeing the final grade, she almost ripped the paper in half out of sheer frustration as she seethed.

No matter how many times she had looked over his report, it never ceased to shock her that anyone – _anyone_ – could fail this spectacularly.

Penned in the box where his Biology grade should be, the red-inked number nine stood – taunting her in all of its single-digit glory.

Satsuki's eyes darted to the top of the page – a surge of irrational dislike rushed through her body as she glared at the name printed in block letters.

_Aomine Daiki._

She hadn't even met the guy and yet, over the past half-hour, he had managed to offend her in so many ways that she feared that her good opinion of him was lost forever.

She tossed the paper aside – not even caring when it slid off the desk and fell onto the floor.

Out of all his grades, only Japanese History was possibly salvageable in her opinion. He had done surprisingly well (by his standards, at least), and had scored in the mid-fifties.

Now, if only he would just show up, they could work on hammering out the other train wrecks.

Her head pounded with the beginnings of a migraine and Satsuki frowned – no doubt it was that guy's fault.

Begrudgingly, she decided to give him two more minutes to show himself before she called it quits for the day.

The students who had been waiting at the bus stop earlier were now gone.

She sighed.

Rubbing the tensed muscles in her back, she wondered if she should nap first when she returned home. It would do her loads of good after this stressful day and, if anything else, it would allow her a few more hours to procrastinate over the other tasks she has yet to start.

Shaking her head, the pink-haired girl knew that she had another long night ahead of her.

It also didn't help that the Treasurer had recently mentioned about their dwindling funds, and Satsuki knew she needed to spend a few additional hours looking over their budgets and decide on what to cut back.

Sometimes she just hated being in these leadership positions. It was so much boring paperwork.

Shuffling her notes around, she mindlessly started to gather them into a bundle as her mind made a checklist of things to take care of by tonight.

However, the sudden creaking sound of a door being opened jarred her out of her task.

And, like the beginning of a horror movie, Satsuki slowly turned her head towards the source of the noise. Her movements halted – a few of her notes remained in her hands as she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. With utter horror, she realized that he was probably Aomine Daiki.

Rubbing the back of his neck, the tanned, blue-haired boy smiled sheepishly at her when their gaze locked. His cobalt eyes suddenly diverted to the paper on the ground and, as he bended down to pick it up, Satsuki schooled her expression to one of ice coolness. But, inside, she burned with white hot rage.

"Hey, I'm here for, uh, tutoring?" His statement ended up sounding more like a question when he suddenly caught her icy expression. But, for the most part, he looked unaffected as he folded the paper and pocketed it.

And then the two just stared at each other.

Satsuki trailed her eyes over his lean frame and, with each passing second, she felt her ire grow. Despite the dark looks she was shooting at him, he continued to look at ease – even going as far as to stuff his hands into the pockets of his white shorts as he waited. A black duffle bag was slung cross-bodied over his shoulder – the strap almost blending in with the black, long sleeved shirt he wore as he started to rock on his heels.

His relaxed posture pissed her off further – though, at this point, she doubted that there wasn't anything about him that wouldn't annoy her.

"Sooo, what's up?" His tone was calm – friendly even – but, in her current state of mind, Satsuki interpreted it as another example of his imprudence.

She blinked – her face momentarily blanked as she processed the three words.

Daiki watched with perplexed amusement as a rapid sequence of emotions flashed across her face – confusion, disbelief, shock – before she finally settled on one emotion: enragement. He halted his rocking when she suddenly growled at him. One eyebrow cocked. What was her deal?

Satsuki clenched her fists as his greeting played over in her head.

What's up?

_What's up?!_

This punk had the nerve to stroll in here – over forty minutes late without an explanation or an apology to give – and had the galls to act like they were chums and asked her 'what's up'.

_Who does that?! _

Her mind raced as she began to conjure up various scenarios – all of which involved slugging him in the face and then calling it a day. If it wouldn't jeopardize her Council position, she might have even attempted it.

But, of course, reason won this round – despite how immensely appealing her daydreams sounded to her right now.

She clenched her fists.

Even though it was only their first meeting, she could already tell that he was not the apologizing type. It would only be wasted efforts on her part if she attempted to drag one out of him. Thinking about that just pissed her off further.

Before it got to the point where she would really give in to her desire to punch him – consequences be damned! – Satsuki turned away. Hoping that the broken eye contact would help calm the storm inside of her, she faced the windows instead.

It didn't work.

The image of him rocking on his heels flashed in her mind again and Daiki – startled – jumped a bit when she suddenly slammed a textbook down on the desk.

Her movements were rough and hurried as she flipped through the pages with more force than necessary as she snarled out the next few words,

"You're late and we have a lot of work to catch up on."

Daiki watched as she continued to take her anger out on the poor textbook and, after a few seconds had passed, he lowly chuckled.

He knew that his presence irked her, but it would take so much more than a few death glares and nasty words to faze him. His time spent in Akashi's, Midorima's, and even Nijimura's company had exposed him to worse situations and taunts and, even though he would hate to be that asshole – since he knew he was technically late – the Teikou ace couldn't help but be amused by the girl's anger.

Still, wasn't she laying on the hostility a bit _too_ thick?

However, even Daiki wasn't stupid enough to vocalize that.

Given how fast she was tearing through the textbook right now, he was sure that she wasn't that far from cracking. It was better to just let her exhaust her own anger for now and, besides, things could get more interesting if he didn't pull the bait immediately.

With undisguised amusement in his eyes, the navy-haired teen slowly approached her.

Satsuki tensed when she heard his soft footsteps and immediately straightened her spine. Muttering under her breath about her shitty luck, she ignored his presence as he suddenly dropped down on the chair next to her and threw his duffle bag on the floor.

He scratched his hair – damp from the shower stalls – as she murmured a low sound of approval when she finally found the right chapter.

She dragged another chair to the table after glaring at him for stealing hers.

Despite his silent promise to himself just moments ago to leave her alone, he shot her charming smile as he nested his head between his folded arms on the desk.

She scoffed – not fooled the slightest by his innocent act. His smile widened into a full-blown grin as he mused how easily he could ruffle her feathers, and her magenta eyes narrowed in suspicion when she caught his pleased expression.

"I'm going to smack you if you keep that expression up." And, true to her words, she raised a notebook threateningly.

Daiki immediately sobered up – not because he was afraid of her, but because they still have an hour left to go and it would be a shame if he got her to blow up this early on. He shrugged – his silent agreement to her request.

Satsuki sighed.

That headache she was talking about earlier?

It was here.

Willing her patience to last for the next hour, she set down the notebook and pushed the textbook so that it nested halfway between the pair. Bolded black letters on the textbook spelt out _Cell Physiology_as the chapter title, and Daiki tilted his head to one side – silently conveying his confusion.

Satsuki caught his lost expression and fought not to roll her eyes.

_Like I had high hopes for you to begin with, Mister I-scored-a-nine. _

Deciding not to address it, she cleared her throat.

"We'll start with Biology for today." As if that wasn't obvious.

Taking out a clean sheet of paper, she began to jot down notes as she spoke.

It was only two minutes and half a page of notes later that she finally noticed that he hadn't said a single word since she had started. Looked up from her writing, she told herself that if he was sleeping, she would really hit him then.

However, that was not the case.

Catching his blank look as he stared at the messy scrawls of figures and drawings, Satsuki stopped in the middle of her sentence. And, with the sudden halt of her speech, Daiki looked up as well – boredom and confusion written all over his face.

Frowning, she wondered if she had been going too fast when a horrible thought suddenly hit her.

Trying to conceal the grimace that was already forming, she quietly asked,

"Hey, Aomine-kun, do you know what 'tissues' are?"

His blank look never wavered.

"Er – that's quite alright." She chuckled nervously. Shit, everything she had been saying wouldn't make sense if he didn't even know the basics. Trying again – although it was more to assure herself than him, she asked,

"Well, you at least know what cells are, right?"

"…"

There was no disguising her annoyance at this point.

"How the hell did you even manage to get a nine then?!"

'Even manage to get a nine' – the ridiculousness of this situation was overwhelming and, had it been anyone else in her place right now, Satsuki would have laughed.

But, instead, all she wanted to do right now was break down in sobs as she realized that perhaps she did overestimate him.

"I just wrote 'proteins' for everything on the exams."

He scratched his chin as she gaped. There was no shame to be found in his eyes, and Satsuki mentally added that as another trait that she disliked about him.

What a piece of work!

"You understand what proteins are, but not cells?!" Hearing the accusations in her voice, Daiki bristled.

"Hey! Proteins are actually important! They build muscles and…stuff," he finished lamely and this time, Satsuki didn't even bother to think twice before smacking him on the head with her notebook.

"Ow! What the –"

"You idiot!"

To think that she had once thought that nine was too low of a grade.

For him, it was miracle in itself that he didn't receive a flat-out zero.

After exhaling a frustrated sigh, she flipped the paper over to a clean side.

"Okay, here is what you need to know about cells."

She prayed that she would have the patience to survive through the next fifty-six minutes. But, somehow, she doubted it.

.

.

.

She didn't know who was more frustrated – him or her.

This guy literally knew nothing and Satsuki wanted to scream when she thought of how the rest of the month would work out for them.

It has gotten to the point where just Daiki face-planted himself on the desk as she drilled him question after question while he gave her halfhearted (and wrong) answers. After forty minutes had passed, she was ready to throw the textbook and, with it, Daiki as well out of the third story window when he started answering all of her questions with 'proteins'.

By the third round, she slapped her hand down on the desk – getting dangerously close to make good of that dream.

"No! Can you stop it with all this 'protein' crap? Were you not listening to me when I explained this to you five minutes ago?!" When he failed to respond, she pulled on the roots of her hair and lamented to herself, "Why are you such an idiot?!"

Daiki buried his face deeper into the sleeves of his shirt as he blocked out her incessant yelling. Playing dead had never failed before and, normally, his teachers would just give up on him after a minute of his apathy.

But this girl was _still_ going on.

_Fuck._

Who gave a crap on the cell's osmo-whatever? How was that going to help him with basketball? This was the type of shit that Midorima would get off on, but Daiki couldn't care less. It was all so_pointless._

He sighed when Satsuki continued to yell for him to wake up, and he briefly considered how much it would hurt to jump out of the windows right now.

If it meant getting some much deserved peace, maybe he would try it.

But, as of right now, he could barely move a muscle in his tired state.

_Maybe I'm getting old_, he thought. But whatever self-deprecating monologue Daiki had planned was immediately cut short when he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his left ear.

It forced him to raise his head and, glaring at Satsuki, he realized that she had grabbed him by the helix of his ear.

_Jesus, he is hopeless,_ she thought as she stared into his eyes.

She released her hold and he immediately slumped back down – his arms swung uselessly at his sides as he brooded with one cheek rested on the table.

Seeing his pathetic state, she had almost felt bad for the guy.

However, she quickly nipped this feeling in the bud.

It was his own fault for not studying in the first place.

Still, she was tired too and, thus, she suggested for a ten minute break.

He grunted – not caring anyways – and Satsuki's lips curled down in a small frown when she considered his rather barbaric nature.

The pair sat in complete silence – each lost in their own thoughts.

Daiki sulked as he thought over on the material.

Aside from the basics that the woman had painstakingly drilled into him, he knew next to nothing on the subject.

It was just so much shit.

And the part that frightened him the most was that this was only the coursework for one class. How the hell was he supposed to remember everything in time for the placement exam next month? His position on the team for the Nationals depended on whether or not he could scrap up a passable grade for the exams.

But, at this rate, he felt like there was a greater chance of Tetsu making a shot than him passing all of his classes.

He made a disgruntled noise, and Satsuki shot the boy a confused look.

"You alright there, Aomine-kun?" She deadpanned – franking not giving a shit if he wasn't alright since she herself wasn't alright and she wasn't even the one at risk of failing either.

Without ever lifting his face off of the desk, he waved her off flippantly.

"Don't mind me. I'm just having a quarter-life crisis right now." His tone dripped with sarcasm and Satsuki rolled her eyes. She added 'melodramatic' to the list.

However, she couldn't resist the extra jab.

"Well, if someone would just study occasionally, they wouldn't be in this position right now."

And, like her, he couldn't resist responding either. His tone was dry but there was no denying the hint of bark in it.

"And what? Be like you and waste all my time away with school and all the other Student Council bullshit?"

The pink-haired girl bristled.

_Oh, it's on._

"At least I'm not the one sniveling right now in his pity party of one –"

Daiki suddenly snapped his head up. No trace of his earlier apathy was to be found in his expression as he narrowed his eyes – suddenly looking so much more intense.

Momentarily shocked, Satsuki halted in her speech for a second – surprised and, if she had to admit it, a little intimidated by this unfamiliar and new side of Aomine Daiki.

He took advantage of her slight delay to cut in.

"Like you have the right to talk! Don't play that shit with me. You totally had your panties in a twist over my lateness and all, and don't even try to tell me that you didn't want to sock me in the face before because it was written all over your expression!"

Why, this little asshole!

"Well, you were late! I waited for forty minutes! _Forty minutes!_ I could have been home by now if you just showed up on time!"

"It wasn't my fault! Practice ran late today because we couldn't even fucking find half of the equipments and –"

But she was too far gone to listen to his excuses.

"Well, _excuse me_, but you're not the only person with responsibilities! I have my own assignments to complete and, quoting you, other 'bullshit' to do and you're wasting_ my _time by making _me_ wait for_you_! I'm not doing this for my health! I'm also not the one failing either!"

Satsuki slumped into her seat – breathing harshly as that outburst had taken a lot out of her.

Neither of them had even noticed that their bodies had been closing in on each other while they screamed.

Daiki groaned in frustration as he rubbed his face aggressively.

If only they had a manager on the team; then they wouldn't be having this argument. All the fucking guys just put away the equipments wherever they wanted and now they can't even find half of the shit and –

Satsuki breathed deeply she listened to him mumbled profanities under his breath – the sounds muffled by his hands as he was still covering his face. The only words she had caught were "basketball" and "fucking Akashi" and neither of that had made much sense out of context.

She shook her head – not caring particularly enough to make him explain his mumblings.

Forget about doing work when she returned home, she needed to nap away this awful day.

This break had been a disastrous idea – even more laughable than the Chairman's plan for her to tutor him because just look how well they worked together!

Her headache raged on, and she decided to take a break. Most specifically, she needed a break from this break.

Rising from her chair, she mulled over which drink she should get from the vending machine as she passed by the sulking boy. But she was stopped in her steps when he suddenly grabbed her hand.

What the –

"Wait, stop! Don't leave! I still needed help with…this."His voice was devoid of his earlier hostility and cockiness as he gestured vaguely towards the piles of papers and books littering around.

His eyes never met hers as he continued to grasp her hand.

Oh.

_Oh._

He thought she was leaving because of their argument.

Yeah, right. As if she would surrender that easily.

However, her eyebrows rose when she realized that he worried about her departure since…what? He wouldn't be tutored? From their interactions this past hour, she honestly didn't think that he cared.

Her musing must have gone on for too long because Daiki suddenly cleared his throat –uncomfortable at the thought of being in the mercy of another. Of course, that hadn't slipped under her radar.

Satsuki smirked. Who knew this boy had a vulnerable side?

"Don't worry. I'm just going to grab a drink from the machines." She tried to contain the growing smugness she felt blooming in her chest. But a tiny bit of it must have slipped into her speech since Daiki suddenly snapped his head towards her direction in the next second.

He took in her amused expression and narrowed his eyes.

All of his earlier discomfort had all but vanished as he adopted a cool expression.

"I see," he said in a clipped tone.

The pink-haired girl tilted her chin up slightly – staring haughtily back at him as neither refused to be the first to break eye contact.

However, her hand was slowly starting to grow warm from where they were connected and, feeling her face beginning to blush, she decided to let him win this round.

Averting her eyes, she tried to keep her growing embarrassment out of her voice as she deadpanned,

"I can't get my drink if you're still holding my hand hostage."

Daiki's eyes widened comically as if he had just realized this and, acting as if it had scorched him, he dropped it immediately. Satsuki scowled at this behavior – it wasn't like she was a slimy toad or something!

He too averted his eyes and an awkward silence descended.

"Sorry," he mumbled after a moment and, though he didn't specified what he was apologizing for, she still accepted it.

She nodded – though he didn't see it as they were both still avoiding each other's eyes.

"Well… I'll be right back," she croaked out before quickly leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

In the hallway, she flexed her hand.

.

.

.

The sound of the door opening alerted Daiki of her return.

Satsuki nodded at him when they made eye-contact and she sipped on her iced tea as she walked passed the desk. Setting the drink down on the table, she shuffled the papers around as she tried to find the best way to word her question.

He looked at her suspiciously when he saw a slight mischievous glint in her magenta eyes.

Propping her elbows on the desk, she folded her hands together and rested her chin on them. A sly expression crossed her face as she spoke,

"I was under the impression that you didn't care about school." Daiki's left eye twitched in irritation as he suddenly had an idea of where the conversation was heading. "And that impression still stands – so I'm asking you, what's up with that earlier display?" She cocked her head inquisitively, genuinely curious.

He stared back at her – giving nothing away as his expression darkened.

But she had expected this and had an ace up her sleeve.

"I'm not going to tutor you if you don't tell me."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but Satsuki smiled sweetly back.

Another tense stare down passed between the pair and, realizing that she wasn't going to let the subject drop, Daiki scoffed and broke the eye contact first. His brows knitted together in annoyance as he stared out the windows.

Everything outside has been basked in a golden and red hue due to the setting sun.

Satsuki pouted after a few minutes of silence had passed and she assumed that he would just accept her refusal.

With a defeated sigh, she began to form the words – telling him to forget about it and that she would still tutor him. But Daiki, still looking over their deserted campus, decided to speak in that moment.

"I'm about to get kicked off of the basketball team if I don't pull my grades up."

His voice was soft – gentle even – and Satsuki's eyes widened, surprised that he would even agree to her conditions.

Yet, the second thing that had caught her attention was how sad he had looked in that moment – that fraction of a second when he had revealed his reasons. It was subtle and, had she not been watching him this entire time, she probably would have missed it.

But she knew that she definitely hadn't imagined it.

Well, that would definitely explain why the Chairman had personally involved himself to see to it that Daiki had gotten a tutor before their next placement exam.

Though she didn't follow the sports news as much as some of her other peers, even Satsuki wasn't blinded to how much media attention Teikou has gotten over the last year due to their National-ranked basketball team.

She continued to muse over the newfound information.

He had said something about basketball practice earlier and, if what he had yelled at her earlier was true, then his lateness today was out of his control.

Still, he didn't have to act so unapologetic about it.

But she guessed that, for someone as proud as him to swallow down his pride and sought others out for help, it couldn't have been an easy thing to do.

And for a basketball team? He must have really loved the sport.

Satsuki shifted in her position as she started to grab a clean sheet of paper and a pen. As she jotted down a couple of things, she thought back to his slightly crestfallen expression from earlier, and smiled.

Well, the guy may be an idiot and a pain in the ass, but at least he was passionate about something and, for that, she couldn't begrudge him.

Daiki finally turned to face her when the silence stretched on too far for his liking. But Satsuki wasn't looking at him anymore.

Her hand moved quickly as she outlined something on the paper and, curious, he leaned in towards her.

After another minute had passed, she stopped her writing and read over her work.

Satisfied, she handed him the notes.

He glanced at the paper for a few seconds before looking back to her again – looking increasingly confused by the second.

Satsuki shrugged. Smiling faintly, she said,

"It's just a list of concepts that you should probably be familiar with for the exam. I've bulleted out certain things that you should keep in mind for each term, but you would have read the rest of the chapter to fill in some of the things I might have missed." When he failed to respond, she was quick to add, "It's only a few pages of texts – maximum of five, I promise. We can go over the stuff you still don't understand next session, but we're out of time for today."

She started to pack up the stuff as Daiki continued to stare at the paper in his hand.

There were seven concepts on the paper and, under each one, she had written a few bullets with stars next to the ones she had deemed to be extra important.

To anyone else, it wouldn't be considered much – since she was his tutor and helping him with his studies was expected of her.

Yet, the comfort he had gotten from this small act of kindness continued to stay with him – long after the moment had passed.

The fact that she had still made this for him, despite their rocky start and his biting remarks, spoke highly of the type of person she must be, and Daiki felt the small pang of guilt in his chest when he thought back to how obnoxiously he had acted earlier.

Perhaps he should make it up to her.

Satsuki had been ready to go when he cleared his voice.

"I'm thinking about grabbing something to eat before going home. You're welcome to join me if you want." At her puzzled expressed, he added, "It'll be my treat."

Her eyebrows shot up, but he shrugged as if it was no big deal.

She studied his expression for a few seconds – looking for any signs of trickery or sarcasm.

But, to her surprise, she had found none. Well, she wasn't going to say no to free food.

She nodded.

"Sure."

.

.

.

"What's your name again?"

Satsuki stopped fussing over her scarf for a moment and turned to face him.

It still boggled her mind how he could get away with wearing such few articles of clothing given the chilly autumn weather. But she had made the mistake of voicing her question earlier and had to endure another one of the bastard's cheeky grins.

"My body just runs at a higher temperature than most people."

He had looked much too pleased with himself and, Satsuki, hearing the pun in his words, had scoffed as she muttered 'idiot' under her breath.

But, to his credit, he had taken her insult good-naturally. She doubted that many guys would still be this relaxed around her if she had called them that.

Her mind returned to present as she considered his question.

To her knowledge, she hadn't bothered to introduce herself when they had first met, so his question was a legitimate one.

"Momoi Satsuki."

Making an agreeable hum at the back of his throat, he nodded.

"Alright, Satsuki. Where do you want to eat?"

She blushed at his casual use of her first name.

He was the first guy to have called her that and, between this and the fact that he was treating her, this whole thing sounded entirely too date-like for her comfort.

"Why are you calling me that?"

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. A small smile tugged on his lips and, for the first time, she noticed that the edges around his eyes crinkled faintly when he smiled.

Huh.

"Dunno. Suits you, I guess."

He scratched behind his ear. No further explanation was given, but she had grown used to his matter-of-fact, straight forward way of speaking.

And, for some reason, his explanation pleased her.

Not that she would admit it.

"Alright, Aomine-kun." To answer his earlier question, she said, "Any place is fine with me."

He halted in his steps suddenly and she turned around – confused by why he was currently wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"What's wrong?"

He gave her a slightly annoyed look.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" He parroted a similar form of her earlier question back at her.

Satsuki frowned.

"What? 'Aomine-kun'? That's your name, isn't it?"

Daiki rolled his eyes.

Given how many times she had yelled at him in the past hour, he was really beginning to hate his surname and, now, he wasn't able to picture anything else every time she would call him that.

It had seriously killed the comradery of the moment.

"Well no, my actual name is Daiki," he deadpanned.

Satsuki – shocked by what he was silently asking her to do or, rather, what to say – just continued to stare at him.

He waited.

And, in the middle of a deserted street, the pair had another stare down.

It was starting to become a bit ridiculous on how much time they were wasting with all their silent standoffs.

Satsuki tried to hide her shivers when another chill hit her but, judging from the slight smirk on Daiki's lips, she wasn't succeeding.

She huffed in irritation.

Crossing her arms across her chest, she ignored the slight flutters in her stomach as she finally gave in.

"Fine, _Daiki_."

He threw her a smug look – to which she returned with a glare.

But, in the privacy of her own mind, she said his name again.

Begrudgingly, she admitted that it suited him too.

But she shook that thought away.

So what if she liked his name? He was still hopeless and an idiot – in more ways than one.

Still, as the pair crossed the street together, she admitted that he was easy to talk to – even though half of the time, they would just be bickering over childish stuff. And, though she would be hard-pressed to admit it, he could be pretty entertaining when he wanted to be.

So, who knows?

Maybe he wasn't completely hopeless after all.

And maybe, just maybe, they could be friends.

Stranger things have definitely happened before.


End file.
